LXXXI.

Fall’n are thy fabrics, that so oft have rung

To choral melodies and tragic lore;

Now is the lyre of Sophocles unstrung,

The song that hail’d Harmodius peals no more.

Thy proud Piræus is a desert strand,

Thy stately shrines are mouldering on their hill,

Closed are the triumphs of the sculptor’s hand,

The magic voice of eloquence is still;

Minerva’s veil is rent[47]—her image gone;

Silent the sage’s bower—the warrior’s tomb o’erthrown.